I think atheism is not a major threat to religions. People want/like/need to believe in spirits, UFO's,
supernatural things, mysticism, auras, morphic fields, the after life, etc. etc.

No, atheism is not the threat. The threat is The New Age Movement. You can see it everywhere: from
music to "yoga relaxation techniques". It's slowly invading our world and those beliefs contradict what
formal religions say or preach. Instead, is more like a mix: some things from christianism, many from
buddhism, other from pseudo-scientific "discoveries", etc.

Instead of stop believing in god(s), people who have lost their faith prefer to believe in something rather than
nothing. Most people cannot accept the idea of being death forever and while people "deconvert" they just change
their beliefs system. They don't become "thinking atheists".

That's why I can see how the number of new age followers will increase in the next years. It's just a change
from a non-sense doctrine to non-sense ideology.

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(11-02-2013 10:33 AM)KVron Wrote: I think atheism is not a major threat to religions. People want/like/need to believe in spirits, UFO's,
supernatural things, mysticism, auras, morphic fields, the after life, etc. etc.

No, atheism is not the threat. The threat is The New Age Movement. You can see it everywhere: from
music to "yoga relaxation techniques". It's slowly invading our world and those beliefs contradict what
formal religions say or preach. Instead, is more like a mix: some things from christianism, many from
buddhism, other from pseudo-scientific "discoveries", etc.

Instead of stop believing in god(s), people who have lost their faith prefer to believe in something rather than
nothing. Most people cannot accept the idea of being death forever and while people "deconvert" they just change
their beliefs system. They don't become "thinking atheists".

That's why I can see how the number of new age followers will increase in the next years. It's just a change
from a non-sense doctrine to non-sense ideology.

So, we're swapping crazy for crazy?

Shit.

The people closely associated with the namesake of female canines are suffering from a nondescript form of lunacy.
"Anti-environmentalism is like standing in front of a forest and going 'quick kill them they're coming right for us!'" - Jake Farr-Wharton, The Imaginary Friend Show.

(11-02-2013 10:33 AM)KVron Wrote: I think atheism is not a major threat to religions. People want/like/need to believe in spirits, UFO's,
supernatural things, mysticism, auras, morphic fields, the after life, etc. etc.

No, atheism is not the threat. The threat is The New Age Movement. You can see it everywhere: from
music to "yoga relaxation techniques". It's slowly invading our world and those beliefs contradict what
formal religions say or preach. Instead, is more like a mix: some things from christianism, many from
buddhism, other from pseudo-scientific "discoveries", etc.

Instead of stop believing in god(s), people who have lost their faith prefer to believe in something rather than
nothing. Most people cannot accept the idea of being death forever and while people "deconvert" they just change
their beliefs system. They don't become "thinking atheists".

That's why I can see how the number of new age followers will increase in the next years. It's just a change
from a non-sense doctrine to non-sense ideology.

That's the point we don't need to blindly follow anything.

I think higher order thinking skills/critical thinking skills are important. People need to understand their cultures, emotions, biases(or brain shortcuts), fallacies, all work together to drive you further from the truth.

When engaging a truth claim, you have to learn how to spot fallacies, biases, appeals to cultural norms, and appeals to emotions. To be able to see clearly what is truth and what is a falsehood predicated on intuition, or psychological tricks, made to help you accept nonsense.

Also it's very important to investigate, get down to the bottom of a news/science/documentary story, check sources, and read counter sources, to evaluate it.

With out learning those things, it's easy to be the victim of our own brains, and accept falsehoods with out knowing it.

"Humans are emotional animals, occasionally rational; and through their feelings they can be deceived to their hearts content" - Will Durant, Mansions of Philosophy

"Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true." - Demosthenes

Member of the Cult of Reason

The atheist is a man who destroys the imaginary things which afflict the human race, and so leads men back to nature, to experience and to reason.
-Baron d'Holbach-